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Impossible Difficulty Strategy Guide
This guide is on strategy for Impossible difficulty. For advice on tactical combat, see the Impossible Difficulty Combat Guide article. = General information and advice = Premise Beating the game on Impossible is very possible. The main struggle will come in a first few months of the game, and after you get everything going, it's a walk in the park. To begin with, there is no tutorial for Impossible, and the game begins straight with the first ground mission. Distinguishing features of Impossible difficulty :See also: Game Difficulty * Base global panic starts at 16 (2 per country) * Your Soldiers cost §15 and start with 3 base HP * Sectoid HP and Aim is increased * Thin Man HP and Aim is increased * You start with significantly fewer credits and less power * Panic levels rise more quickly * The number of enemies on ground missions is increased Picking a start continent *Picking Europe is a strong start, since it halves the price of your Workshops and Laboratories, saving you when you build your first Workshop. * South America — only needs 2 satellites, and gives you one of the best bonuses research wise. Instant interrogations and autopsies will save you a couple of research days each. The bonus is especially important if you capture aliens alive, as it will save you time on interrogations, which also reduce the time of certain subsequent researches by 50%. * North America bonus drops the price of Interceptors from to , and their maintenance from to . The savings from this bonus are low to moderate, which makes this continent an inefficient start. * Africa bonus increases XCOM total monthly income by 30%. The bonus is very powerful in early and late game, when you have a lot of countries covered with your satellites. At the start of the game this bonus gives §210 instead of §165. * Asia bonus decreases the credit cost of all projects in the Foundry and Officer Training School by 50%. It can save a good amount of cash, it takes 4 Satellites to get the bonus if you start at another continent, and there's a big chance that you may lose a country in Asia and never get the bonus. It is a decent start. = Step-by-step walkthrough = First mission Objective: kill the aliens, number of aliens — 8. If it's your first time playing on Impossible, it will probably get you several tries to beat the first mission. First month of the game Objective: survive the invasion. Major changes in your base and panic level * Abduction missions will increase panic level by 3'''. Over the course of the month, there are two such missions, so at least 4 countries will want to withdraw. * You get a lot less and at the start. Major events during the first month There will be 5 major events during the month. # First Mission # Abduction Mission # First UFO Contact # Abduction Mission or random Council mission # random Council Mission or Abduction Mission # Council Report First month strategy It's a solid strategy to keep South America, as mentioned above. It's great for science if you can capture aliens alive, and you will only need one more satellite on this continent for extra bonus. Africa is the most important continent, that 30% income bonus is your best chance to survive, even is you lose many other countries. Try to save it even if you have to launch your first satellite here. Be prepared: you are going to lose 4 countries in the first month by default. However, with good gameplay it is possible to lose one of them only. One of the ways to keep a Country is to "fish" for Council Missions in that Country with panic reduction reward. To do that, reload a save made at any time before the mission was announced. Council mission is random every time, and reward is random every time.The countries you should lose better be at your starting continent. This way, you won't lose the possibility to acquire all continent bonuses. There are two general approaches to development in the first month. '''First way is to focus on satellites and base facilities to lay the monetary foundation for future months. It will require a lot of skill with handling your soldiers to avoid losses, but it will keep more countries from leaving the Council, due to launching more satellites. To help yourself with ground missions, it's a good call to research armor, for more HP. If you feel really confident, research the Arc Thrower and keep capturing aliens, to reduce research times and enable Alien Base Assault sooner. It is possible not to lose any country at all. Calendar of key events should be the following: * 2 March. Go for a Mission with 4 Engineers reward. (You need 10 engineers to build Satellite Uplink and you will need 6 Engineers to build a Workshop.) * 2 March. Build a Workshop * 10 March. Now prices drops and you can buy 4 satellites each * 15 March. Build Satellite uplink * 30 March. Launch your satellites Some tips how obtain enough Credits: * Sell some items on the Gray Market * Skip first Small UFO. You will get Medium UFO * Don't buy jets before 27 March. You will not detect second UFO in March Second way is to focus on making ground missions easier. While more reliable for ground missions, this is less monetary rewarding, and will likely result in more countries leaving the Council, due to fewer satellites. * Hire enough soldiers ( per soldier) to sustain your ground force. * Research armor and weapons, manufacture armor for your troops in the Engineering. * On the first abduction mission, select 4 Engineers as a reward, and build a satellite after you got your Engineers — to pay. * On the second abduction mission, select 4 Engineers as a reward. * After raiding the first UFO, build a Satellite Uplink facility. You may have to sell some trophies at the Gray Market to afford that. You can get enough money to build the Uplink even if you had before the mission. * Build a Power Generator. * At the Council meeting, it is likely that two or three countries will abandon the project. Choosing which country to give satellite coverage: * You already got the bonus of your starting continent so these countries can be sacrificed. Asia and Europe have the most 'sacrificial' countries. * Africa should be priority one, you can`t lose that 30% income bonus, no matter what. * South America only needs 2 satellites and give a good bonus for the second month. Sectoid and Floater corpses provide a good bonus vs UFO's, while you can focus your research on weapons and armor. * Consider focussing on 2 continents. More then 2 continents mean you need to buy extra interceptors. The first UFO might appear before 3 days (before new interceptors are built) Transit your second starting interceptor to a new continent 3 days prior to council report. Each extra continent means extra costs for defense the first month. Research Projects: * First research should be Weapon Fragments, it takes 8 day to research. * Second research is Beam Weapons (research), it takes 26 days with 5 Scientist, so you will finish right after the end of the first month (it is available after Weapon Fragments research and first UFO contact, if you dont have it yet, start Alien Materials, but switch to Beam Weapons as soon as you can). It is a quite long research, but if you choose 4 scientists on second Abduction Mission or get as reward on Council Mission, research time will be reduced. Without Laser Rifle and Laser Pistol second month is not impossible but with laser weapons you can one shoot Sectoids, Floaters and Thin Mans. Developing Beam Weapons first is highly recommended (however 12 Engineer is required to build these weapons). Enemy types and numbers: *'First Mission:' 8 Sectoid - two group of 3 and one group of 2. *'Abduction Missions: '''12 Sectoid - four group of 3. *'First UFO Contact': '''4 Sectoid - two group of 2 and 1 Outsider inside UFO. *'Council Missions: *#Target Extraction/Escort: 6 Sectoid (two group of 3) and 5 Thin Man (one can be found around the map, mostly at the center, others will spawn as you move forward with your allied civilian). *#Bomb Disposal: 6 Sectoid (two group of 3) and 5 Thin Man (one can be found around the map, mostly at the center, others will spawn when you diffuse the bomb). Second month Objective: preparation for raiding the Alien Base, and the actual raid if possible. Raiding the Alien Base is beneficial. Successfully completing the mission will reduce panic by 2 points worldwide, allowing you to prevent any countries from leaving the Council in this month. It's best to complete the mission shortly before the Council report. Additionally, it will provide you with a lot of , and gives you a chance to research Psi-Abilities for your soldiers. Base management during the second month * Build an Access Lift for and . You will also likely need a Power Generator ( ). * Building an Officer Training School ( ) is a good call if you struggle with ground mission. * Build a Thermo Generator ( ) if you have easy access to a steam vent and it's reasonably close by. * Satellite Uplinks grouped together get adjacency bonus . Four uplinks built in a square will cover 12 satellites (8 from satellites + 4 from adjacent bonus = 12). Construction should begin no later than 15 days before the Council report. * Engineer requirement for uplinks increases with every uplink you build ,so you have to increase the number of Engineers you have. This can be done by choosing Engineers as a reward for missions and by building Workshops. A Workshop takes 10 day to build, so you need to start construction at least 25 days before the Council report. * To enable Alien Base Assault, you require an Alien Containment facility ( ), and it takes a week to build, so start building early. After constructing it, you will need to successfully capture any alien and interrogate it. Next step is to capture an Outsider on a ground UFO mission, then research the Outsider Shard. Troops management during the second month * Hire at least 8 soldiers ( per soldier). Hired soldiers have 6+1 HP at the start, which will reduce the likelihood of them being killed on a missions. (no longer true due to patch) Major events during the second month There will be 2 abduction missions, so there is a high possibility to lose 4 more countries. There will be 5 major events during the month. # Abduction Mission # UFO Landing Site / UFO Contact - Enemies in Medium Scout (+1 in each group if landed): 2 Floater, 2 Sectoid, 2 Thin Man, 1 Outsider # Alien Terror Attack - Enemies: 6 Floater, 3 Chryssalid # Abduction Mission # UFO Contact / UFO Landing Site # Council report Third month Objectives: successfully raid the Alien Base. To successfully complete the priority mission, you have to interrogate any captured alien, then stun an Outsider, research the Outsider Shard it leaves behind, and manufacture a Skeleton Key. By this time, XCOM finances should be stable enough to allow you to launch the remaining satellites without more countries leaving the Council. Manage your base, build the necessary facilities, and lay off satellites until the end of the month. When the Council report draws close, make sure your best men are healed up, and go for the Base. Enemy forces inside the base will typically consist of one Sectoid Commander, two groups of two Drones (four in total), one or several groups of Mutons, several groups of Chryssalids, one or several groups of Floaters, and one or several groups of Thin Men or Sectoids. Most aliens are grouped by three, with the exception of Drones. Further development After raiding the Alien Base you should be very well set off. Just cover the rest of the countries with satellites, finish all weapon and armor research, max out your soldiers' ranks, and avoid losses. Once you stabilize the situation and gear well enough, you should be in no danger of losing the game by having more countries withdrawn from the Council. From this point, you can take the game slowly, and complete all the researches before taking further on priority missions. Category:Guides